Despite the fact that we now live in a society where there's very little that shocks us, the Non-League Paper last Sunday delivered an incredible, mind melting double-whammy.
Whilst the front page story claiming that a bung culture is prevalent in the semi-professional game is a shock in itself for a paper that usually has an 'everything's wonderful' rose tinted view on non-league football, the big revelation is hidden towards the end of the article.
Hyde manager Steve Waywell is quoted, "It (bungs) doesn't happen in millions of Non-League clubs but it happens in thousands." Millions of Non-League clubs? No wonder the pyramid is constantly being restructured. By my, admittedly loose, calculations it means that at least 50% of the UK population must be registered as a player with a non-league club. Either the pressure is getting to Waywell (more of which later) or the Non-League Directory is going to be really frickin' expensive next year.
Once you've finished reeling from that you turn the page and are hit with the news that three clubs from the north-east have agreed to join the Unibond League, if they finish in promotion spots. If the bods at Soho Square had any sense they'd offer their negotiating team to the UN straight away because after managing to reverse a decade of self-imposed isolation by the notoriously arrogant Northern League, solving the Middle East crisis should be a piece of cake. There's got to be a Nobel prize in this for them...
If you're one of the three people that regularly reads this section you'll know that I've followed Steve Waywell's appearances in the local media with some interest, purely because these articles do seem to give the impression of a man desperately trying to turn back the tide as it laps around his ankles. Sadly for him, his outburst on the back page of this weeks Reporter does little to dispel those thoughts. When a manager starts rounding on the supporters for doing something they're fully entitled too (in this instance booing the team off after a defeat) it's a sign that there's a storm brewing. Plus, if I was him, I'd come up with a better defence than what is basically if we'd scored a few goals then the result would have been different. Mind you, just fielding a better defence would be more helpful to Hyde as the season goes on.
The Stalybridge team photo once again gets another airing this week, just in case you've missed its countless other appearances in the publication this season. Honestly, I think they read this every week and are just doing it to cheese me off.
We end though in the Advertiser (Curzon on the back page - again!) where Mossley have their first real 'feature' of the season: an interview with manager Jason Beckford following the defeat/capitulation to Guiseley last Saturday, 'We need to change. I’ve given the lads an opportunity to see whether they can make the step up and some of them can’t. After nine games, we know what we need and it’s a case of going out and getting the players to make us better.'
At this point I would like to mention that there were only four of last season's squad in the starting line-up for the Guiseley game and, as far as I can remember, they were far from being the worst performers on the day. And I'm sure that Lee Bracey will be sitting reading the paper in the Hurst Cross dressing room, nodding in agreement after getting one game this season for Mossley before being dropped.
Anyway, till next week.
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